Spring Flowers of Osaka and Kochi

WAGASHI

So, Japan loves details and if you haven't noticed I love details too!! So naturally I love traditional Japanese sweets called "wagashi" 和菓子. The three above I bought a few days ago from a woman who makes them in her home and sells them at a local market. The spongy one is like a folded pancake with "anko" (Japanese atsuki beans with sugar added) inside. The fat lady face, which I've been told is one of the 7 most special gods, has black sesame eyes, some kind of red gloss on the lips and anko inside. The outer layer tasted like some type of white bean mixed with sugar and maybe some type of flower or thickener to make it easier to mold. I've seen old wooden wagashi molds at markets, I'd really love to take a lesson in how to make these before I go. The little green one reminded me of PlayDough spagetti i used to make! Come to think of it a lot of wagashi does look like clay or PlayDough food because it's so cute and colorful! But the green one was the same, some kind of bean sugary paste outside and anko inside. The yellow part may have had some yuzu (Japanese citrus fruit) extract in it cuz it had some extra zestiness!

I hate formatting pages on this stupid blog site!

this layout is terrible!! I need to learn how to use Dreamweaver!

Anyways, the above right coffee photos are from a local cafe that draws pictures into the foam of your latte!! This is so awesome! It's around $7 for a cup of coffee but I don't care cuz it's too much fun to be drinking coffee with a tiny drawing of Elvis, Ryoma Sakamoto, sumo guy, dragon, pikachyu or whatever else you want staring back two inches from your nose. The guy takes requests, you really can get anything! I asked for a little Sumo guy... so cute and delicious.

The above strawberry dish on the green plate is my favorite Japanese dish of all time! It's called "ichigo daifuku" イチゴ大福. Ichigo = strawberry and daifuku = good luck, so it's a good luck strawberry ball of joy!! You can only get it in February and March usually. The inside is a full strawberry, the next layer is anko and the outer layer is mochi. Only in Kochi do they use white anko instead of red anko, so it's more beautiful because it's all white with just the red stawberry inside :)

To the left is all the beauty of wagashi!! love it!!!

Nov. 23, 2009 Harvest festival in a shrine

On November 23, 2009 I had an incredible experience at a little shrine atop a mountain in a village about an hour from Kochi City. My student Kiyo, who is 73 years old was invited to this harvest festival by one of her former jr. high school students who is now a priest at this shrine. She kindly invited me along and we watched three hours of dancing Shinto priests, a goddess and devils grabbing screaming children. I've shown these photos to many students and most of them don't know what any of this symbolizes so I won't pretend that I can understand it. It was one of the aesthetically amazing experiences of my life.
-a Japanese goddess walked slowly to every side of the room carrying the fan, a branch and that wand with ripped washi at the end. I really want to research into what this meant...

This is Oni-sama. Oni is like a devil but when he hits you on the shoulders will a bamboo stick it sends the evil out of your body and brings you good fortune.
He likes to grab little children and spin them around as they scream and cry. This brings them good fortune and a success? All the older people think it's really cute and funny to watch the children be tortured by the monster :)
He also grabs men and women and spins them around.


1.They old men who must have some important position in the shrine. 2. A priest acting as a very old man. I'm guessing this whole performance had some relationship to Noh theater? 3. Beautiful view from outside the shrine.
The Shinto priests played drums, symbols and chanted. It was so majestic, too bad I don't have a recording...

Washi Making in Yusuhara!

In September I had a few days vacation so I wanted to treat myself to some kind of traditional craft workshop. There are so many traditional crafts in Japan that are basically dieing out because most young people aren't interested in the lifestyle of an artisan/craftsman. I honestly don't blame them. These art forms consume your life and so much of the production depends on season, temperature, plants etc. Japanese traditional art forms are insanely detailed in process because you're always aiming for the unattainable goal of perfection. Although I don't have the self-discipline or passion for a specific medium to live this way I really respect the people who dedicate their lives to continuing and teaching these beautiful traditions.

I found out about Kamikoya through searching on the internet for "art, workshop, Shikoku". I was so excited when I saw they taught workshops in washi making (washi-Japanese paper). I of course write on washi all the time for my shodo so it was a great opportunity for me. So, Sept. 20-22 I traveled to Yusuhara (about 2 hours west) to take a 2 day workshop in washi making. The artist/sensei, Rogier, came to Japan about 30 years ago from Holland and started studying the traditional washi techniques of Shikoku. He was a book maker/binder back in The Netherlands so that's where his interest in paper came from. The people in Ino (a town famous for washi about 45min. from Kochi) and surrounding villages were eager to teach him and pass on their knowledge of washi. He and his wife have a school and a studio on a mountain in Yusuhara where he grows his own food and all the materials he needs for his washi. His neighbors in this village are probably 60 and older and come from families who've been making washi for generations so they assist him in the process. A really amazing experience for me!!
left to right: The food there was amazing! I highly recommend going there just for dinner. On the left is a beautiful pizza I had my first day with half tofu, little tiny fish, herbs and cheese and half pizza margarita. They make the crust there too and everything is organic when possible! Rogier's wife, Chika always put fresh mint in the water :) Next is a breakfast with a prosciutto topped salad, egg, yogurt, fruit and homemade preserves for the bread. yummmmm!! 3rd is the beautiful view from my window in the guesthouse. I wish I could wake up to this every morning.

The Washi Making Process (as best as can be demonstrated to someone in 2 days. the whole process really takes weeks or maybe months)
1. view of the studio, many traditional wooden tools. 2.beating the tororo root. it excretes this gooey juice that is added to the paper pulp to help evenly distribute the fibers. i'm wearing a mask not because it's harmful to breath but because i'm getting over the flu, and in Japan if you're sick you have to wear a mask... 3. pulling apart the mitsumata and kozo fibers which the paper is made from. these fiber must be soaked in freezing cold water for a very long time to soften them and get rid of starch.

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beating the tororo root. it excretes this gooey juice that is added to the paper pulp to help evenly distribute the fibers. i'm wearing a mask not because it's harmful to breath but because i'm getting over the flu.

beating the mitsumata and kozo to break down the fibers into little pieces which will make the pulp

1. the beautiful paper pulp. the mitsumata fibers have a warm shimmery color, so the pulp was really pretty :) 2. vigorously stirring the pulp to further evenly distribute and break down the fibers

making the paper with a bamboo screen that lets the water drain through but of course keeps the paper fibers on top. this is a lot harder than it looks because the paper must be completely even and all the fiber must lie flat. the screen is repeatedly dipped until the paper is the desired thickness. 3rd the paper is layered on top of one another (it won't dry together if done correctly) on a piece of felt and will later be put in a huge press to squeeze out the water.
2. applying some flower petals for a decorative paper. 3. the paper press
2,3. a different technique where the paper pulp us hand poured over piece of burlap and just left to dry. i did a circular pattern using a cardboard ring and some natural clays. 4. pressing
pulling apart the plain white washi after pressing that was just separated by a piece of string. so beautiful...
1. little demo of how you have to scrape all the brown bark off the mitsumata before soaking the fiber to release the starch. the goal is pure white paper. 2,3. the paper has to be stuck to a wooden board to dry outside in the sun. this makes the paper very smooth on one side and prevents is from warping.

-neighbor farming the tororo root which is used for the slimy goo which is the key ingredient to making and even paper pulp. the flowers are edible, i had one on a salad.

1. Rogier peeling the bark off a kozo plant. 2. flax used to make linen. 3. cute couple having a short workshop the as me day as me. next to them is the papryus which was used to make the first paper by the Egyptians. 4. me and the papryus
-kozo plant

1. mitsumat plant 2. neighbor and Rogier in tororo field 3. simple paper lantern made from his washi

1. the water in the nearby forest is super clean and safe to drink. 2. Rogier uses it to soak his paper fibers in the huge bath below.
-such a beautiful place...

1. my finished work drying! 2. Rogier, Chika and me

Indigo Dyeing in Tokushima

Wow, I'm so behind on my blogging that this entry is about something I did in June. terrible... So I've been interested in indigo dyeing since I first was an exchange student in Japan more than 4 years ago. At that time when I studied kasuri I used a product called "Indigo Pure" which apparently is easier to work with than natural indigo dye. Junko found and opportunity for us to try aizome (indigo dyeing) in Tokushima so I was very excited to learn about this process!

Unfortunately I don't have the name of the place on hand now but large quantities of the plant that indigo is derived from was grown near here and then harvested and fermented to get the dye. The sculpture above is to commemorate this in the yard between the old house and the studio. I guess this place is famous since the current emperor went there with his family to try out indigo dyeing.

Junko and I went with another classmate and friend, Mayumi.

These are samples of dyeing that were in the studio. The first of a rabbit print. This is done by screening a dye-resist paste on the fabric in the areas you wish to remain white, before dyeing. Next is resist dye shodo (Japanese calligraphy) that are used as sort of mini curtains that are in many doorways in Japan. Third is a sample of the gradient you can get by exposing the fabric to the ink at 2-minute intervals.

This is the dye bath! It was really beautiful! You know the indigo is ready when the bath create the bubble mass shown above, called the indigo "flower".

This is our lovely work! We all did shibori (best described as "tie-dyeing) since we weren't allowed to do the paste resist that day. I haven't really used mine for anything but Junko dyed a lot of yardage so she had it made into a dress.

Me (sweltering in the horrible Shikoku summer heat) and Mayumi looking quite comfortable. Really cute couple of families doing indigo together. If I had kids I'd want to do this with them...

There was a really old home next to the studio. I don't really understand who used to live there but I'll check on it later... I loved the combination of wallpapers and the beautiful lighting through the paper screens

More from the home...

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